When Reality Strikes
by the-belligerent-one
Summary: Charlie wakes up alone in a strange house, with no idea how he got there. Does anyone know where he is, and will Don find him in time? ON TEMPORARY HIATUS
1. Chapter 1

**When Reality Strikes**

Author: The-Belligerent-One

Warnings: None

Spoilers: None, maybe small ones in later chapters.

Disclaimer: I don't own NUMB3RS or any affiliated characters. I do however own Chele, who is a character of my own invention.

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Charlie woke with a start. Before he'd even opened his eyes, he knew he was not at home. It was cold, too cold for L.A. And the room had a certain…scent. It was a sweet aroma, like flowers. Definitely not home.

Charlie opened his eyes, not sure what to expect. What he saw confused him even more. He was in an unfamiliar bedroom. The walls were purple and there was a huge closet spanning the length of an entire wall. The bed he was in was much bigger than his single bed at home, and it had blue covers with tiny golden flowers stitched onto them. He felt slightly out of place in such a girly room, wearing his jeans and black hoodie and wondered how he had gotten there. He didn't remember falling asleep last night and supposed he must've dozed off while going over the draft of Amita's thesis.

Deciding it was time to find out where he was, Charlie swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood up. But before he could go anywhere, the door swung open and a girl walked in. She was pretty, with shoulder-length light brown-blonde hair and steely gray eyes. She was tall; a couple inches taller than Charlie, and was dressed in ripped jeans and a Metallica t-shirt that looked a few sizes too big. Seeing her made Charlie feel a little less out of place.

When the girl saw Charlie standing there, she froze, a glimmer of recognition in her eyes, and total disbelief written across her face.

"Hi, my name's Charlie, I was wondering if you could tell me-"

_thump_

She fainted, the papers she was carrying spilled across the floor. Charlie didn't know what to do. He looked around the room for anything that he could use to wake her up and spotted a water bottle on the nightstand and grabbed it. He splashed the water on her face and the girl opened her eyes slowly, as if unsure whether she wanted to wake up or not. She had no choice but to get up as some of the water went up her nose, triggering a sneezing fit.

"Hi, I think we might've got off to a bad start." Charlie said when she had stopped sneezing. "I'm Charlie." He extended his hand, and, after staring at it for a moment the girl shook it.

"My name's Chele. I, uh, that doesn't usually happen." She said, referring to her fainting. "But, then again, I don't usually walk into my room to find a guy standing next to my bed."

"Heh, yeah, I don't usually wake up in a strange bedroom, either. Speaking of which, could you tell me where exactly I am. Your accent tells me you're not American, and although it resembles British, there's something else that I can't quite place. I'd say European, but the climate here disagrees."

"My heritage is a bit mixed, but you were close. My maternal grandmother was Scottish and my dad's ancestors were French. But my parents were born in Africa. I, however, was born here, and as you can tell, I've picked up a bit of the local accent, as well as a mixture of my parents'."

"Hmm, that's interesting, maybe you could tell me a bit more about your family later. However, back to my first question. Where exactly am I?"

"You are currently in my bedroom, which is in my house, which happens to be in the outer suburbs of the city of Melbourne."

"Melbourne, Florida?"

"No, silly, Melbourne, Australia."

**If you've read this far, I mustn't be as bad as I thought. lol. Thx for reading.**

**Please R&R. This is my first fanfic, so be nice. :P **


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: Here it is, my little rhyme: please don't sue cos they're not mine :P**

**Thank-you to all who reviewed. It is so nice to know that the effort I put in is appreciated.

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Chapter Two

Chele and Charlie sat in the kitchen, both drinking ice tea. Chele was also holding an ice pack to the back of her head where she hit it. She had given Charlie a tour of the house and it was huge for a one storey home. There were three bedrooms, two dining rooms, a massive living room, a bathroom Charlie described as hotel-esque, and a study with two computers and an entire wall of shelves occupied by books on every subject. Also, the kitchen was equipped with just about every appliance known to man. Charlie did a quick mental calculation and came to the conclusion hat the household used up more energy in a week than Don's entire office building.

"Okay," started Charlie. "We've talked about the weather, you've shown me around the place and we've had lunch. Why don't you tell me about yourself?"

"Uh, well, I live here with my twelve-year-old brother, Danny. He's seven years younger than me. I finished uni a couple years ago – I've got a law degree, but I majored in math as well."

"Wait," Charlie looked confused. "You said your brother is seven years younger than you. That would make you nineteen this year. If you finished uni a couple years ago, that would make you-"

"Sixteen when I graduated."

"Wow," Charlie didn't have time to say any more, because at that moment the phone started ringing. Chele went into the next room to grab the cordless phone then walked back into the kitchen.

"Hello," she said cheerfully, but Charlie grew concerned when the color visibly drained out of her face

"_Miss Rendell," _said a sinister voice. _"Listen very carefully if you ever want to see your brother again."_

"Who are you and what do you want?" Chele said, sounding much braver than she felt.

"_Now, now, Miss Rendell, control your temper or we shall be forced to…cause your brother some discomfort."_

"Don't hurt him! He's only a kid, for heaven's sake!"

"_Since you don't sound very co-operative, I think our conversation is over. You will find a list of our demands if you open your front door. Goodbye."_

"Wait, I want to talk to him," all she heard was the dial tone. Chele dropped the phone on the bench and ran for the front door. When she opened it, a letter floated to the ground. Charlie, who had followed her from the kitchen, read it over her shoulder.

_Dear Miss Rendell,_

_We have your brother. Follow our demands and he will not be harmed. One week from tonight, at midnight, you are to deliver $100,000 in unmarked bills to 155 Chandler St. Come alone, do not call the police, don't be late and do not under any circumstances bring weapons of any kind. Your disregard of these terms may result in a fatality. Danny's fate is in your hands. If you alert the authorities, we will know._

"Chele?" Charlie said, gently taking the note from her hands and steering her to sit on the couch. "Why don't I call my brother? He'll know what to do."

"You never mentioned a brother. What would he be able to do, anyway?"

"Don's my older brother, he's with the FBI. He'll be able to help."

"NO! They said they'd hurt him if we contacted the police. That includes the FBI. I just want him back. I'm going to call the bank and arrange to empty my account, maybe take out a mortgage on the house, or see if they'll give me a loan."

She went over to the phone and dialled the number for the bank. After a short conversation, she started to look a bit teary. Charlie noticed and sat down beside her.

"Okay, thanks anyway." she ended the call and turned to Charlie. "Everything's going wrong. Their system was hacked into and all my money's gone." she started sobbing and Charlie pulled her into a hug and let her cry on his shoulder.

"Don't worry, everything will be alright, we'll think of something." Charlie said softly. He'd already decided that as soon as she went to sleep, he was gong to call Don. "Look, why don't you go have a rest. You've had a tough day."

"Okay, thanks Charlie." She got up and went to her room, closing the door behind her. Charlie waited a few minutes until he was sure she wasn't leaving her room anytime soon, then he lunged for the phone and dialled his home number.

"_Hello?" _Came Alan's voice.

"Hey, dad, It's me Charlie. Is Don around?"

"_Charlie? Where are you? You had us worried sick!" _Charlie could hear Don's voice in the background, then it sounded like they were fighting over the phone.

"_Charlie? It's Don, where are you, buddy?" _Charlie could tell Don was worried.

"Um, Don, I don't really know how to tell you this, but I'm in Australia." Charlie held the phone away from his ear in anticipation of Don's reaction.

"_AUSTRALIA? What the hell are you doing in Australia? Did you suddenly have the urge to go on holiday?! Cos you could've told us." _Even with the phone at arm's length, Charlie could hear Don's cries.

"Hang on there Donny, before you bite my head off, just know that I didn't choose to come here, I was here when I woke up."

"_Are you okay?" _Don's voice had gone from annoyed to concerned, in a heartbeat. _"Are you alone? Who brought you there? Are they feeding you? Did they hurt you? Why Australia of all places?"_

"Don, chill, you're going to give yourself an aneurism." Charlie gave a small laugh. "I'm fine. Actually the real reason I called is because this girl here-"

"_Was she kidnapped too?" _Don interrupted.

"No, she lives here. Don, her brother was kidnapped and she's really broken up about it. Her bank account was hacked into and emptied, so she can't pay them. If she goes to the cops, they'll kill her brother." Charlie had said all this very fast and Don was a bit confused as he was only getting the basics of the story without any background info.

"_Look, Charlie, why don't you start from the beginning and tell me everything you know. Then I'll try to get the first flight out to wherever you are. Where are you anyway? I mean, man, Australia's just a big chunk of desert, right?"_

"Actually, that's a common misconception. So is the idea that there are dirt roads and kangaroos all over the place."

"_Chuck, save it for some other time. Where are you?"_

"Melbourne. 12 Prince-Charles Avenue."

"_Okay. I'll catch the first flight out. For now, just tell me everything you know about the girl, about the kidnapping, and anything else."_

Charlie told Don everything that had happened since he woke up and Don listened with minimal interruptions.

* * *

The next morning brought with it rain clouds. Chele noticed these and made a mental note to make sure all the windows were shut before the storm arrived. She looked at the illuminated digits on her alarm clock and saw that it was only 8:30. It took a moment before she remembered Charlie and so she got out of bed to look for him.

Charlie turned around when he heard her enter the kitchen "Coffee?" He lifted the coffee pot to make his point clear.

"Gladly. I was hoping yesterday had all been just a dream, but now I can see there was something good about my unexpected guest"

"Talking of unexpected guests, I called Don and he's on his way." Charlie said sheepishly. "He just called back about 10 minutes ago; he'll be here in forty minutes."

"YOU CALLED DON?!! HOW COULD YOU!! ARE YOU TRYING TO GET THEM TO KILL MY BROTHER??!!" While she shouted she had unconsciously stepped forward and grabbed a kitchen knife. Charlie eyed the knife warily and was about to ask her to put it down, when she whirled around and threw it at the wall. The knife hit a painting of a mountainside and just stuck out of it until the whole picture fell off the wall revealing several other knife marks it had previously been covering.

"Chele, I'm sorry, but he was bound to come find me eventually. I mean, I was totally MIA until I called. If he didn't hear from me he would've presumed something bad had happened, with my involvement in his cases, anything's possible."

"You're right, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have lost my temper, but I'm a little on edge with what happened yesterday and all. I'm gonna go get ready."

Chele left to get changed and Charlie hung the painting back on the wall, picked up the knife and put it back in its rightful place.

A short while later Chele re-emerged looking fresh-faced and, Charlie thought, quite pretty. She was wearing a pair of faded black jeans, and a Led Zeppelin t-shit under a camouflage jacket complete with fur-lined hood (faux fur, of course). She had done her make-up so that her eyes looked silver and bright.

She was about to ask something when they heard a car pull up in front of the house. Chele and Charlie arrived at the door at almost the same time, both having bolted for the front of the house as soon as they heard the car.

When they got outside, Don was standing on the sidewalk, watching the cab drive off. He didn't notice them standing until Charlie called his name. He turned and was walking up the drive when Charlie spotted the green sedan driving up the street. What caught his attention was the man with the gun hanging out the window, aiming at them.

"Don, gun!" Charlie shouted. Don, who was closer to Chele, pushed her to the ground as the gunshots began. There was a strangled cry from Charlie, the sound of breaking glass as the windows shattered, and more gunshots as Don returned fire. Then all that was audible was the sound of squealing tires as the vehicle drove off.

When the smoke cleared, no one was left standing. There was silence. Pure, terrifying, deafening silence. But was anyone left to hear it?

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**Thank-you again everyone. Now, I'm working on Ch3 at the moment so hopefully I'll be able to post it in a few days.**

**Don't forget to review. :) Thx again.**


	3. Chapter 3

Thankyou to everyone who reviewed, I am truly amazed at how well my fic was received.

There was a question from luvnumb3rs about how Don would be able to get his weapon through customs since he was out of his jurisdiction. There are two FBI offices in Australia that work in corroboration with the American Embassy in Canberra and the American Consulate in Sydney.

Also, I'm sorry if Charlie and Don seem a little out of character, I'll try to fix it up in future chapters.

**Chapter 3**

Don's POV

I open my eyes, my ears still ringing from the gunshots. I would've expected that after all this time I'd be used to it, but no. Once my ears stop ringing and I can hear again, I realise it's quiet, except for the squealing tyres in the distance. Then I remember the others.

The whole incident comes rushing back to me:

_The thing was so unexpected. One minute I was greeting my little brother, the next bullets were flying everywhere. I pushed Chele to the ground and knocked my head on the way down. I don't know what I hit, but it must've been pretty solid, because I could feel the telltale wetness of blood near my left eye. As I fired at the retreating vehicle, my vision blurred and try as I might, I couldn't keep myself awake, and just as the darkness seeped across my vision, I heard Charlie's pained cry._

"Oh God, Charlie," I whispered, wondering how badly hurt he was. A thousand possibilities went through my mind and I cursed all the crime scene photos I'd seen during the course of my career.

"Charlie?" No answer. My head feels so heavy, and I have the mother of all headaches. But I have to get to Charlie. "Charlie?" I say it louder, but my head gives an almighty throb and I decide to refrain from doing that again. I hear Chele groan from beside me, she doesn't seem to be hurt, but winces when I touch her shoulder. She might have landed on it a bit hard. I try to stand up but a wave of dizziness rushes over me. _'I have to get to Charlie'_ That is the only thing going through my mind and combined with sheer stubbornness it is enough to get me going. But with every step I feel weaker and weaker, and the world seems to spin. Then I see the ground rushing up to meet me, and the darkness takes over once again.

Chele's POV

I was awoken by someone shaking my shoulder. It felt like someone had smashed it with a sledge hammer. I bit my lip to keep from crying out and the shaking stopped. I looked up and Don was kneeling beside me. He was looking at me but didn't seem to see me. Then he got up, staggered a few steps, and fell face-first into the grass.

"Don, Don," I rushed over to him, ignoring the pain in my shoulder. "Don, wake up." He didn't look well. He had a cut above his left eyebrow and the blood was all over the side of his face. He must've gotten a concussion and I knew that he should be staying awake. I poked, pinched, prodded and managed to persuade him to return to the land of the living.

He whispered something but I had to lean closer to hear.

"What was that, Don?"

"Get…Charlie…not…answering,"

"Alright, I'll get Charlie, just stay awake for me, okay?"

"Yeah,"

I made sure he stayed awake, then went to Charlie. I froze when I saw blood soaking the right side of his shirt.

"Chele, what's wrong?" Don had noticed I'd stopped.

"Uh, there's blood," my voice was shaking. Seeing the blood brought back memories of my family's death. "Don, there's blood." I saw the blood, but I couldn't bring myself to do anything about it. I just stood there, staring.

I would've stood there forever if Don hadn't pushed past me to get to Charlie, his dizziness forgotten and his 'big brother' instinct taking over. He lifted Charlie's shirt and I looked away, but I couldn't ignore the smell of the blood, the smell that reminded me of the day my world fell apart.

"He's okay, it just scraped him. He was lucky. But I can't wake him up." Don seemed relieved and concerned at the same time.

I walked up to where he and Charlie were, trying to ignore the blood. "Ask him for square roots." I said, barely above a whisper.

"What? What do square roots have to do with it"

Flashes of memories, long suppressed, pulled me away from reality.

_Blood...gunshots…screaming…the crunch of metal on metal… the pain._

"Chele? Chele?" Don was waving a hand in front of my face, a concerned expression creasing his brow. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," I mentally shook myself and turned to Charlie's prone form. "Charlie? The square root of 36 is 5, right?" He didn't wake up, but frowned slightly. "And the square root of 49 is 8, right Charlie? Stop me if I make a mistake." I continued incorrectly listing square roots until Charlie was awake and seriously pissed off.

"Would you please shut up?!" he said grumpily, trying to sit up but grimacing in pain.

"Whoa there, easy tiger," Don looked happy that Charlie was finally awake, but his expression became concerned once again as I sat down shakily on the grass, memories bombarding me once again.


	4. Chapter 4

**Thanks for all the reviews! I'm so, so sorry that it took me so long to post chapter 3. It was a bit short so I'll make up for it with a longer chapter here.**

**Chapter 4**

General POV

After Don had patched Charlie up, given him some painkillers and sent him to bed, he sat down with Chele to get her side of the story.

"…and then you showed up. I guess you know the rest." she finished. Don opened his mouth to ask a question, but before he could say anything the phone started ringing.

Chele jumped at the sudden noise and looked at the phone, a panicked expression on her face.

"Uh, are you going to get that?"

"No," Chele answered, sounding close to tears. "What if it's them? They know you're here and they told me not to call the cops."

"Wait, you've talked to them before?"

"No, the note." Chele got up to get the note, which she had placed carefully in a plastic sheet protector.

"Why's it in plastic?"

"Don, honestly, it's only common sense. And plus, I watch enough TV to know that there could be fingerprints on it and I want the best chance to catch the people who did this."

They were interrupted by the beep of the answering machine as it recorded a message:

"_Miss Rendell. We thought you were smarter than this. You called the fed and you will pay. We do not appreciate your direct disobedience of our demand. You will never see your brother again because of your foolishness."_

Chele just sat there, silent. Don was concerned because of her reaction, or lack of one. "Chele? Are you alright?"

Chele looked at him for a long moment, and Don thought she might not give him an answer, but then she stood up and said quietly "I think I need to be alone." Then she walked out of the room. Don took this opportunity to get in touch with his FBI contacts in Australia.

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Charlie was looking for Chele. Don had just finished telling him about the phone call and her reaction. He had searched the house twice over and she clearly wasn't indoors. Don hadn't noticed her leave, at least not in the car, and Charlie was worried. He glanced out the kitchen window and saw her.

She was standing in the backyard, drenched from head to toe. Charlie, never having been this far south of the equator, was still unaccustomed to the cold temperatures in Melbourne. Chele, however, was standing in the rain, staring into space, pretty much oblivious to the world around her.

Charlie got a towel out of the hall cupboard and went to get her out of the cold. Don caught him on his way out the back door.

"Hey Chuck. Where're you going with that towel?"

"To get Chele, she's out there standing in the rain." he motioned to the back door.

"I'm going to bring her inside before she gets pneumonia."

"Why's she in the rain? Is everything alright? I mean, besides the obvious,"

"I dunno, man. From what you've told me and from what I've seen, she seems a bit…different since the shooting. From what I know of her, she usually deals with her emotions by taking them out on something," he lifted the painting on the wall to reveal the knife marks. "I mean, first her brother gets kidnapped, then her bank account is emptied, then she gets shot at, and now this. Her non-reaction is a more worrying reaction than her knife-throwing one, and trust me, that girl is scary when she's fuming with a knife in her hand." despite his attempt at humour, Charlie was getting that concerned look in his eyes.

"Look Charlie, why don't you go and talk to her, I'm gonna go grab a shower and maybe catch some zees. My watch says it should be 1am, and the jet lag's killing me." Don left and before long Charlie could hear the shower running.

Charlie headed out the door and walked up to Chele. Despite him being only a few feet in front of her, directly in her line of sight, she didn't acknowledge his presence.

"Chele?" Charlie's voice was gentle, he spoke as if he were talking to a traumatized child. She didn't react. Not even when he wrapped the towel around his shoulders. "C'mon Chele, lets go inside, out of the rain."

Only when he started steering her towards the house did she say anything. "Why, Charlie? Why is this all happening to me?"

Charlie didn't know what to say to this, so he hoped the truth would suffice. "Honestly, I don't know, but me and Don, we're gonna do all we can to get your brother back."

He got her inside and sat her down in the recliner near the heater. Only then did he notice the tears running down her face. He took a seat on the arm of the chair and tried to comfort the distraught girl. "Hey, hey. It's going to be alright. We're gonna find him."

"How can you tell me it'll be alright? They have Danny and my money's gone so I have no way of paying the ransom. They're going to kill him. He's going to die all alone and scared, and I'll never see him ever again." This brought on another wave of tears.

Don, who had been listening from the doorway, strode over and kneeled down in front of her. "Chele, look at me. My people at the Sydney FBI office are looking into the drive by shooting. They're running the plates and are going to call as soon as they know anything. Since the kidnappers knew I was called and when I was arriving, I think it's safe to assume your phone has been tapped, so use it as little as possible. Now, we know the guys that shot at us are the same people who have your brother, so when we find them, we'll find Danny."

As if he'd said the magic words, his cell phone started ringing. "Eppes,"

Charlie and Chele watched as Don's expression went from hopeful to angry then to grim. "Okay, get in touch with my office and have my team waiting to intercept them. When's the next flight out?" he listened for a moment. "Okay, get us three tickets, we're going to be on that flight." He ended the call and turned to find Chele and Charlie looking at him expectantly.

"Well?" said Charlie.

"Do they know where Danny is?" Chele looked about ready to burst into tears again.

"The car belongs to a man named Hermano Montez. He's a member of an L.A gang with international connections. This morning he purchased four tickets to L.A – three adults, one child – it looks like they're taking your brother with them to California. Their flight left about an hour ago. The next flight to L.A leaves in four hours and I plan on being on it, so I suggest you both start packing."

Without a word Chele got up and went to her room. They heard drawers opening and closing as she got her things together.

"She's taking this new information well, considering the emotional breakdown she just had." Don commented.

"Well at least she knows he's still alive. I mean, statistically speaking he should be dead right now. We both know the first 24 hours are crucial when dealing with a kidnapped child. After that, their chance at surviving, or even being found, drops exponentially."

"Yeah, well, he's not out of the woods yet. I'm going to go grab my things." Don left to pack his things.

* * *

The drive to the airport was pretty uneventful. Neither Don nor Charlie knew the way, do Chele was driving. When they got to the airport, they were pleased to find that their flight had been rescheduled and they wouldn't have to wait as long. Everything else went smoothly until they got to the security checkpoint. Don removed his handgun and badge, as well as his watch and keys and placed them onto the tray to go through the x-ray machine. He then walked through the metal detector and retrieved his belongings. Charlie followed him without any problems. However when Chele walked through the metal detector, it started beeping like mad and a burly-looking security guard walked up to her.

Could you please empty your pockets of any metallic objects, miss."

"All I got is in that tray."

"In that case I'll have to go over you with this." He held up a hand-held metal detector and proceeded to run it along her arms and torso. When he got to just above her right knee, it emitted a beeping sound.

"Ma'am?"

"When I was thirteen I was in a car accident. My parents were killed instantly. My side of the car was pretty much gone and my leg was crushed so badly they had to screw it back together. Would you like to see the scars?"

The security guard looked at her. It seemed to hurt to talk about the accident and she seemed harmless enough. So he let her through; she _was_ with an FBI agent.

"No, ma'am. That wont be necessary."

Chele grabbed her things and headed over to Gate 4 with Don and Charlie to wait for their flight.

"So that's why your brother lives with you instead of your parents. Was he in the accident too?" Charlie asked gently, not wanting to trigger another tear-fest.

"No, we'd just dropped him off to school and we were going to my school's athletic tryouts. I was hoping to make the sprint team." she gave a defeated shrug. "I guess it wasn't meant to be."

"Did you ever get to try out?" Don asked, though he had a feeling he already knew the answer.

"Nope, even if I wanted to, I couldn't. I mean, it took me months to even begin to walk normally again. The day my parents died, I lost it. If it wasn't for my brother, I uh…probably wouldn't be here. I'm not proud of it, but I can't tell you suicide didn't cross my mind. But my brother, man, he kept me sane."

Just then a voice came over the P.A system. "Atlantic Airlines Flight 110A to Los Angeles is now boarding at Gate 4."

"That's us," said Don, standing. Charlie and Chele followed suit and soon they were seated on the plane. Don was in the aisle seat with Chele on his right and Charlie next to her. "It feels good to be going home, doesn't it?"

"Yeah," said Charlie. "But we've still got work to do."

As the plane taxied the runway and prepared for takeoff, Don noticed Chele's grip tighten on the armrests. It wasn't something Charlie missed either. Her grip tightened even more when the plane gathered speed. The brothers noticed her muttering something under her breath. "Two, three, five, seven, eleven, thirteen, seventeen, nineteen, twenty-three, twenty-nine, thirty-one, thirty-seven,"

"Uh, Chele?" said Don softly. "What're you doing?"

"Flying makes me nervous. Numbers calm me down."

"Oh man," said Don, resting his head on the back of the seat, a smile playing on his lips. "You hear that Chuck? We got ourselves another one of you."

**Thx for reading, don't forget to leave a review on your way out :P**


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